(NaturalNews) Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have sprung up in recent years, confining cattle in as little space as possible, with no room for the animals to roam, with no grass for them to feed on. Genetically modified feed is trough-fed to the animals as they fight for space and trounce in their own manure and urine. The filthy, confined conditions take the spirit out of the animals. As the cattle are bulked up unnaturally, stripped of their well-being and led to the slaughter, the entire operation seems void of dignity. This method of farming doesn't lead to prosperity -- only degradation.

Reliance on CAFOs doesn't bring down beef prices, just the beef's quality

Even with these forced feeding operations in full swing, U.S. meat producers cannot provide enough beef and bacon to satiate the world's demand for convenient food. Self sufficiency is a dying skill, a fading way of life. Consumers continue to shop for the "convenience" of unhealthily raised meat even as its prices soar. According to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in June 2014, the price of beef and bacon hit an all-time high in the US.

Consumers expect this kind of meat to be readily available to them every time they stop off at a restaurant or fast food joint. They depend on it being there for them, served just the way they like. In this way, consumers are practically begging for more concentrated feeding operations, which destroy the very value, quality and energy of meat. Even as these unhealthy meat production operations expand, the price of beef won't go down -- only the quality of the meat will.

In 1980, when the price of these commodities was first recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ground beef cost just $1.82 per pound, with bacon tallying in around $1.45 per pound. Thirty-four years later, ground beef has soared to $3.91 per pound and bacon now costs a staggering $6.11 per pound. Experts predict that this is just the beginning, that prices are expected to continuously soar, especially since the value of the fiat dollar is continuously inflated by the raucous, economy-gutting, quantitative easing policies of the Federal Reserve. The private Federal Reserve pumps multiple billions of dollars into the market annually, degrading the purchasing power of the currency. Food prices go up along with the price of many other commodities, because the dollar is devalued due to dictatorship central banking policy that prints currency at will.

Rising use of EBT cards causes a perpetual rise in food prices

The problem of rising food costs is made more severe as a growing number of people begin giving up on their food budgets and start obtaining EBT cards to cover the gap. While this social engineering program (food stamps) may help some in very desperate, needy circumstances, the abuse of the concept ultimately perpetuates rising food prices. As more people fill their shopping carts with food that they don't need (just because the government program allows them to get it), the price of that food then naturally raises, since more of the food products are flying off the shelf. This perpetuates a cycle of rising food costs, and the people who feel it the most are the ones who pay for the food out of their own earned income budget. (This also creates a sense of class warfare.)

Another unintended consequence is that those with the EBT card don't necessarily recognize the rising price of food (because the money is coming to them as an entitlement, allowing them to purchase blindly). Therefore, EBT recipients don't always responsibly budget and plan their shopping, taking more than they need.

(A large bag of rice, oats or beans stashed back can feed families longer and more responsibly in a time of emergency.)

The rise in EBT card dependence shows that a food and economic crisis has already hit. Today, the social program engulfs about one in seven Americans, highlighting an ever-expanding reliance on government that takes away the satisfaction of earning one's keep and feeding one's own family.

In the past decade, ground beef has gone up from $2.49 to its current average of $3.91, showing a price increase of 57 percent! At this rate, ground beef could easily be $6.14 a pound by 2024!

Bacon has increased a startling 78.7 percent in the past decade. At the current rate, bacon could cost over $10.00 a pound just 10 years from now.

In the past month, both beef and bacon have risen $0.06 per pound each, putting the commodities on a collision course over the next decade. The trajectory of irresponsible human behavior of consumption -- from the way food is unhealthily produced to the way it's subsidized by the government -- is unsustainable and destined for continuous collapse.

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